This question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” seems to be drawing a lot of fire this week. Susan posted a comment:

Rather than assume that Joann lost control of the interview, look at the approach she was taking. It seems she took the nondirective approach to the interview which allows the candidate to have control. The question asked is justifiable, however, the reliability and validity of the answer is minimal.

Quick recap. I sat in on an interview where the interviewer lost control simply by asking the 5 year question. Susan is suggesting that the question might be appropriate if the interviewer is choosing a nondirective approach to the interview.

The sole purpose of the interview is to capture data (facts) so the interviewer can make a hiring decision. Anything that detracts from that purpose should be seriously questioned and likely discarded from the interview process.

Right now, you are reading this so you can make better hiring decisions. I will guarantee you that, right now, candidates are reading articles to defeat you. Candidates are being coached by headhunters to take control of the interview, so they can tell you only those things that are to their advantage.

Allowing the candidate to take control of the interview is a dramatic waste of your time and pulls you away from your purpose of gathering facts so you can make a better hiring decision. Candidates are being trained to specifically derail you from this process. -TF

“But what about a question looking to the future? Could this reveal their goals and help us understand how to motivate them?” asks Bob in response to yesterdays post. For the past two days, we have been looking at the question –Where do you see yourself in 5 years?-

In our Hiring Talent Workshop, we spend a great deal of time looking at ineffective questions and the 5 year question is at the top of the list. So what about Bob’s interest in learning how to motivate a prospective candidate who is about to become a new hire?

Is motivation a critical issue? Absolutely! So, Bob brings up an important subject.

The problem with the 5 year question is that it calls for speculation. Any question about the future invites the candidate to make stuff up or outright lie. Now, I know that no candidates you interview ever inflate the truth, but I have run across a few that have.

But if motivation is critical, and it is, then I am keenly interested. And if past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, that will be my focus. And if all motivation springs from interest and passion, here is what my questions sound like.

Tell me about a time when your manager struck gold with you, and tapped into a particular interest that got you revved up on a project. What was the project? What was your interest? What were you passionate about? How did your manager know about your passion for this project? What was the result of the project?

If goals are of interest in the hiring interview, here are my questions.

Tell me about a time when goal-setting played a critical role in the success of a project. What was the project? How were the goals set? Were these personal goals or goals for the team? How often did you review the goals with your manager? What was the result of the project?

These are critical issues, interest, passion and goals. Future questions simply invite candidates to make stuff up. Focus on the past. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior . -TF

Joann’s agitation turned into confusion, predictably. “But, every interview I have ever been in, that question was asked.” We had been talking about my reasons for not asking the question -Where do you see yourself in 5 years-.

“Joann, what is the purpose of the interview process?”

“It’s to find out if this is the right person for the job,” she replied.

“Good answer. The purpose of the interview is for you to predict the future behavior of the candidate when they come to work for you. Tell me, what is the best predictor of future behavior?”

Joann thought for a long minute. “Well, we sometimes use a personality assessment.”

“Those are okay, but the best predictor of future behavior, statistically, is past behavior. If you want to know how someone is going to behave when they come to work for you, all you have to do is find out how they have behaved in similar situations in the past. The purpose of the interview is to collect facts about the person’s past behavior.

“The problem with your question about 5 years from now, is that it calls for speculation on the part of the candidate, has nothing to do with facts and is not verifiable. But here is the biggest problem. If you ask that question, you will get a response that you can do nothing with. All it can do is confuse you as an interviewer. In the midst of your fact based data collection, you get this speculative response that has nothing to do past behavior and it actually confuses the interviewer.” -TF

I quietly sat through the interview as an observer. During the debrief after, I fielded the following question, “Well, what did you think?”

I did have a number of thoughts. “At what point did you think you lost control of the interview?”

Joann looked puzzled, “Lost control?” I was silent. “What do you mean, lost control?”

“I was just curious if you noticed. At what point did the candidate begin to ramble and make stuff up?”

“Do you think he was making things up?” Joann asked.

“Oh, without a doubt I said. About two minutes into the interview, you asked him a question, and that is when it started. In fact, the manufactured stories continued through most of the interview.” I could see that Joann was beginning to fume, thinking the candidate had put one over on her. But I continued. “And all this fabrication was at your invitation. Do you remember the question you asked?”

“No.” Joann was definitely agitated.

“You asked him where he thought he would be, professionally, in five years. Anytime you ask a question about the future, you invite the candidate to speculate, fabricate and invent stories that you have no way to verify. It provides you with no useful information.”

I sat quietly. I knew this would take some time to sink in. -TF

“What is the purpose of this interview,” I asked. Morgan struggled for a moment, but some clarity managed to pierce the fog.

“The purpose of the interview is to help me make the right hiring decision.”

“Good,” I continued. “In a sense, you are in the role of the fortune teller. It is your job as a Manager to predict the future. How will this candidate behave when they come to work in your company? So, Morgan, the best predictor of future behavior is what?”

“Past behavior,” blurted Morgan.

“Exactly, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. All you have to do in the interview is find out about their past job behaviors. If they have a pattern of a behavior in the past, there is a high likelihood they will repeat that behavior when they come to work for you.

“First, determine what behaviors will be necessary for the position you are hiring. Then find out, if that is what they have done before. Once they report for work, you will NOT be able to change their behavior; it already has to be a part of them, their patterns. You are not in the behavior modification business. You are in the behavior selection business.” -TF